First Congregational Church of Guilford

First Congregational Church of Guilford is a United Church of Christ congregation in Guilford, Connecticut. The church was founded in 1643, just a few years after the first settlement of Guilford in 1639. At that time, under the theocratic structure of the New Haven Colony, the town of Guilford and its church were essentially the same entity. Guilford's first meeting house was a simple stone structure with a thatched roof, located on the town green. It was expanded in the 1660s, 1670s, and 1680s, and finally replaced in 1713 with the construction of a larger building, also on the green, that is reputed to have been the first church in Connecticut with a steeple clock and a bell. Initially the church served a very large area, which was reduced over time as new congregational societies were established in East Guilford (now the town of Madison), Cohabit (now North Guilford), and North Bristol (now North Madison). The current church building, a wooden structure that overlooks the town green, was completed in 1830 as part of a campaign to clear the green of buildings. Five other Congregational churches were built on essentially the same design in the Connecticut towns of Old Lyme (the 1816–17 Old Lyme Congregational Church), Milford (1823), Cheshire (the 1827 First Congregational Church of Cheshire), Litchfield (the 1829 First Congregational Church of Litchfield), and Southingto

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